Speed-the-Plow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Speed-the-Plow (1988) is a play by David Mamet which is a satirical dissection of the American movie business, a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films Wag the Dog (1997) and State and Main (2000).
Hollywood producers Bobby Gould and Charlie Fox engage in a verbal boxing match centered around the eternal debate of art versus money. Should Gould go for another bad action blockbuster? Or should he put himself on the line for a film adaptation of a spiritual, apocalyptic novel? Gould's secretary Karen acts as catalyst in the debate (Gould has her read the novel in order to report on it to him later, at his apartment; there she gives a glowing review of the novel's themes and content) and, only to be ditched just as easily in the play's cynical finale, with Gould's partner, Fox, accusing her of using her sex to get a place in the movie business.
The play's text contains an epigram by William Makepeace Thackeray, from his novel Pendennis, which puts the theme in larger context. It starts: "Which is the most reasonable, and does his duty best: he who stands aloof from the struggle of life, calmly contemplating it, or he who descends to the ground, and takes his part in the contest?" Gould finds himself on both sides of this dilemma, and at times in the play he "stands aloof," and at other times he "takes part" in life's contest, with its moral strictures.
There is an 18th century English play by Thomas Morton called Speed-the-Plough, which gave the world the character of that arch-prude Mrs. Grundy, but Mamet has never indicated that he is familiar with it. In an interview in The Chicago Tribune (Feb. 19, 1989) he explained the title as follows:
"I remembered the saying that you see on a lot of old plates and mugs: 'Industry produces wealth, God speed the plow.' This, I knew, was a play about work and about the end of the world, so 'Speed-the-Plow' was perfect because not only did it mean work, it meant having to plow under and start over again."
Jack Kroll of Newsweek described "Speed-the-Plow as "another tone poem by our nation's foremost master of the language of moral epilepsy."
Speed-the-Plow was first performed by the Lincoln Center Theater at the Royale Theater, Broadway, New York, in 1988, with a cast of Joe Mantegna (Gould), Ron Silver (Fox) and Madonna (Karen). The play was nominated for a Tony Award for Play of the Year. Silver won a Tony Award for Best Actor (Play). It has since been produced countless times in regional theaters and schools across the country. A 2006 revival in Los Angeles featured Alicia Silverstone as Karen. In 2008 it played at London's Old Vic Theatre (starring artistic director Kevin Spacey as Fox, Jeff Goldblum as Gould, and Laura Michelle Kelly as Karen).
The entire play bases itself around sex and money and the true shallowness of Hollywood.
[edit] Related Works
David Rabe's play and subsequent film adaptation Hurlyburly could be considered a companion piece to Speed-the-Plow, centering on the empty lives of a group of Hollywood executives after the debate was won by money.
Bobby Gould's story is continued in the one act play "Bobby Gould In Hell", also by Marmet.
Arthur Kopit's play "Bone-the-Fish," later rewritten as "Road to Nirvana," was written in response to "Speed-the-Plow."
[edit] Quotes
GOULD: Rich, are you kidding me? We're going to have to hire someone just to figure out the things we want to buy.
FOX: Life in the movie business is like the beginning of a new love affair: it's full of surprises, and you're constantly getting fucked.
|
||||||||||||||
